It’s about time we see a fix (KB909095) to one of the most annoying issues I’ve encountered inWindows XP SP2. I first mentioned this bug back in November. They had one of those patches you could call up and request (because it wasn’t fully tested), but it didn’t work to well for me. I’m hoping this will serve me much better.

Last week my private server had some corruption on the system partition. Seems to be related to the system log file from what I can figure out. I’ve got it back up and running, mostly. Though not 100%. If it was running something newer than 10.2 Jaguar, I’d likely be in better shape. Not much work, but because it’s 266MHz, it takes a year to do something as simple as upgrade perl. Despite that, the tough little box is still chugging away. Thanks to partitioning, and putting the drive in an external enclosure and hooking it up to my Mac Mini with Mac OS X 10.4, all user data is intact. That’s really what’s important.

Now today a Windows XP system decides to corrupt itself. Not quite done with evaluating the damage and repairs. I got it to boot, not sure what else is hiding under the murky waters of Windows XP. That’s the goal for tonight.

What did I learn? I really need to get some better backup systems working on these two computers. I’m sick of doing this.

This is actually a legitimate offer. Microsoft is offering a free CD. Granted it’s slightly out of date (October 2003), I’d still recommend getting a copy. That way next time you restore your computer, you don’t need to wait for the download of all those updates (especially if another virus attacks windowsupdate or Microsoft.com.

Also good to loan to someone who isn’t very good with keeping their computer up to date. I know I’m sure I’ll end up passing it along. Remember. Helping others cure their exploits means one less computer being used for evil on the network.

A good way for Microsoft to convince people their OS is secure may be to keep offering such Free CD’s. And encourage people to burn copies for friends. It’s not like someone will abuse it. They make them freely available for download (or mail them at no cost). It’s still their copyrighted works. They still own the patents and all rights to it. They don’t lose a penny. Just lowers their distribution costs in such a campaign.

Would be a good idea for them to do.

Thankfully Apple at least makes software updates easy. It lets me know when they are available. I update, reboot, that’s it. And the server is always fast. Doesn’t overwhelm me with info I don’t care about (well I care, but I know most won’t). Doesn’t tell me what can be installed when, or what goes first/last. Just does it. Pure beauty.

Windows XP is trashed. No networking at all. So I need to backup. My best solution has been to move up the plans I had for a summer upgrade to a Thanksgiving upgrade (who says only your tummy gets full on the holiday?)

Here’s the plan:
Get a much faster HD. Specs include 7200 RPM Drive, and 60 GB. Fastest 2.5″ drive on the market. By far.

Put current drive in UltraBay, with 2nd Hard Drive Adapter for Thinkpad, Take new Drive, and put in HD bay.

I’m looking to use it as an alternative desktop. I’m an OS X Lover, so you want to impress me 😆 Want it all, the absolute best. Some UNIX experience, and want more. So tell me what you like/don’t like. Your opinions are more than welcome, feel free to email, or use comments. Make your case.